File was not found

Hi,

Running ESXi 5.0 Update 1.

I have a version 8 VM which is one of our two domain controllers, (Windows Server 2008 R2). It's on local attached storage.

I'm using ghettoVCB to backup the VM's to NAS and I was trying to troubleshoot why this particular VM was not copying.

I SSH'd into the server and, thinking I was in a different directory, deleted files. I was actually in the folder for the VM of the domain controller. Obviously it couldn't delete all the files as they were in use.

I recreated the .vmdk descriptor file using this link;

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1002511

When I restarted the VM, the domain controller was coming up without a network connection. I went to edit the settings and set it to the correct network, but it would never save and brought up the "File <unspecified filename> was not found" error message.

I ended up manually editing the .vmx file and changing the "ethernet0.networkName" field to the correct network. The VM started correctly with a working NIC and all is OK.

However, if I need to edit the settings of the VM, I still get the "File <unspecified filename> was not found" error message.

I was thinking of possibly creating a new VM with the same settings, and adding the .vmdk file to it.

1. I'm not confident in the correct way to go about it, and
2. I don't if, because it is a domain controller, if there will be bad consequences. I read somewhere that the UUID or something will be different and there could be network problems.

Can anyone provide some advice?

Thanks

Steve.